ASA Statement - NSW State Records Act 1998 Review
20 Oct 2020
The ASA notes the release of NSW Parliament’s Standing Committee on Social Issues Report into the State Records Act 1998 and the Policy Paper. The report was tabled in the Legislative Council on 15 October 2020.
The report is available on the Committee on Social Issues website, along with submissions, transcripts of evidence and other inquiry documents. The report and its recommendations are now with the government for consideration. The government is required to respond to the recommendations within six months.
The Committee's terms of reference included consideration of the proposed merger of the State Archives and Records Authority (SARA) and Sydney Living Museums (SLM) as well as a number of proposals to improve public accessibility and strengthen the State Records Act.
The Committee's finding was supportive of the merger:
That the committee strongly supports the proposal to create a single new cultural institution with Executive Agency status, in place of the existing State Archives and Records Authority of New South Wales and Sydney Living Museums, to collect, manage, preserve and provide access to government records, objects, buildings and places of interest to the people of New South Wales. Moreover, the committee believes this new cultural institution will strengthen and diversify access to and engagement with the history of New South Wales. (Pages ix and 47).
Our Response
In addition to Finding 1, the Committee sets out 9 Recommendations (pages x - xi) including recommending a detailed analysis of all aspects of the proposal to create a single new cultural institution (Recommendation 1), and ensuring that the legislation giving effect to the new cultural institution clearly defines the government recordkeeping and archival functions of the institution (Recommendation 3).
The recommendations seek to strengthen provisions in the State Records Act 1998 including Recommendation 6: that records in the open access period be open by default, unless subject to a 'closed to public access' direction, and that the open access period be reduced to 20 years. The ASA is supportive of this measure.
We also commend the Committee's Recommendation that the NSW Government work in partnership with Aboriginal people to manage and care for highly sensitive and confidential Aboriginal records and enable greater access to them, and consider appointing Aboriginal archivists within SARA (Recommendation 9).
Advocacy
We provided a submission to the Inquiry and we were also called to give evidence directly to the Committee on 1 July 2020. Our Submission and response to Questions on Notice are available on our Advocacy Pages.
The ASA with the Museums and Galleries Association of Australia (AMaGA), the Professional Historians Association (NSW & ACT), the Records and Information Management Professionals Australasia (RIMPA), and the Royal Australian Historical Society (RAHS) wrote on 12 August 2020 to the NSW Premier, Gladys Berejiklian, and Don Harwin, the NSW Minister for the Arts, further setting out our concerns that the proposed merger dilutes the statutory role of SARA and SLM. The letter set a number of proposals including that the NSW Government:
- consider granting SARA Executive Agency status and resource it appropriately as the State’s key memory and accountability agency;
- maintain the independence of SLM and retain the Trust structure;
- seek an appropriate legislative mandate for SARA to ensure that digital evidence of the NSW Government is made and properly managed to meet citizens’ expectations today and into the future;
- develop an overarching state strategy for museums and galleries which includes a coherent approach to the roles and relationships between all the state collecting institutions, as well as with the regional and community museum and gallery sector. This is particularly pertinent to the SLM;
- which manages, curates and presents a number of heritage sites and historic house museums across regional NSW;
- explore options for a state strategy for history, which could assist all public offices and cultural agencies to further value our history and cultural heritage, that makes use of existing government resources and services, without the need for legislative or institutional mergers.
The Minister Don Harwin responded to the letter of concern addressing the points raised in some detail.
We will continue to advocate for a strong and independent State Archives and Records Authority of New South Wales to support public accountability and good recordkeeping.
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